My short (non-horror) story Firefly has been accepted by Flora Fiction for publication in Spring 2023. It’s a simple story about a young girl who captures a firefly in the back yard to help cheer up her ailing sister.
I know you’ve been asking yourself, “Warren, how can we nominate YOU for a Nebula award?” Well, friends, you’re in luck. Here’s a quick rundown (for SFWA members only—login required).
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My post-apocalyptic satire Wine List for the Apocalypse, Courtesy of Your Olive Garden Sommelier has been published by The Weekly Humorist. Listen in as tonight’s sommelier, Giovanni, reviews the wine list against a backdrop of flickering firelight from our ruined Earth.
Our Pinot Grigio? Unfortunately, we’re unable to properly chill it to our satisfaction, mostly due to the lack of refrigeration and basic human sanitation. Without electricity, the closest thing we have to refrigeration is the cold realization that all is lost.
My coming-of-age horror story Many Deaths Before Dying has been accepted by Underland Arcana. When a giant, silvery puddle appears in the field where they play, four boys encounter an inexplicable horror that will change them forever.
“We need to get help,” I said quietly. But I didn’t move. I felt rooted in place, as if my feet had bonded to the Earth’s crust. I was frozen solid, utterly paralyzed with fear. Shah hadn’t just fallen into the puddle. He had been pulled.
2022 was another very busy year for me. As of December 1st, I will have published almost 80 stories this year alone. Of those, 37 were originals (1 novella, 14 short stories, 7 flash, and 15 drabbles) and the other 41 were reprints (18 short stories, 1 flash, 11 podcasts, 12 drabbles).
If you’re nominating for any of the major horror, sci-fi, or other awards out there (Hugo, Nebula, Stoker, Astounding, etc.), I’d love your support. Continue reading for my Top Ten Stories of 2022.
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I am beyond thrilled to announce that my techno-horror story Blame has been selected by Tenebrous Press for their anthology, Brave New Weird: The Best New Weird Horror, Vol. 1.
We define New Weird Horror as a Horror subgenre focused on progress, creatively capturing themes and questions that bleed into fiction straight from the modern reader’s life and future. It acts as a challenge to break new ground in terms of form and content and to engage with the unknown.
This collection features 22 stories selected from over 700 submissions of previously-published works from the past year. The final Table of Contents is a who’s-who of incredible talent—I’m so honored to be listed among such amazing writers and friends.
My short horror story Die On Your Feet has been published as part of Havok’s Thriller Thursday series. It’s only free to read for the next 24 hours, so catch it while you can.
The story is about a group of survivors huddling close to the ground to avoid whatever is lurking in the fog just overhead. It’s an allegory about what happens to people who deny the reality of their situation, despite all the evidence telling them they are wrong.
“It ain’t real,” Grady insisted. “Think! Have you ever actually seen one of the things up there?”
“No, but I’ve seen what it does to people.”
A House, Haunted, my first-ever horror poem, has been accepted into the Home Sweet Horror anthology by Black Ink Fiction.
Pipes spit water stained red with rust
into porcelain cracked like fractured teeth.
In addition, my horror story Something’s Wrong With Mom will be reprinted in Home Sweet Horror 3 later next year.
My microfiction horror story Scrapple is featured as the cold open on this week’s episode of The NoSleep Podcast. The story starts at 2:07. Listen for free on your favorite podcast app.
My sci-fi drabble What It Feels Like to Die has been published in Issue 7 of Martian: The Magazine of Science Fiction Drabbles. When you wake up in a Rejuvenator, you don’t remember anything about how you died … even if someone killed you.
“Mama?” Madelyn asked. “What does it feel like to die?”
“It’s like falling asleep. Except when you fall asleep, you wake up in the same place. When you die, you wake up in a Rejuvenator.”
Warren Benedetto 